Crithagra sulphurata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The brimstone canary or bully canary (Crithagra sulphurata) is a small passerine bird in the finch family. It is a resident breeder in central and southern Africa. This species is found in open, lightly wooded habitats, such as hillsides with trees or scrub and forest edges. In South Africa it occurs mainly in coastal areas, inhabiting coastal bush, shrubs along streams, gardens, and areas with rank vegetation. It is not truly migratory, but undertakes some seasonal movements.
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the brimstone canary in his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected at the Cape of Good Hope. He used the French name Le gros-bec du Cap de Bonne Espérance and the Latin Coccothraustes Capitis Bonae Spei. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition, he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the brimstone canary. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined... Wikipedia →
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brimstone Canary sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 149 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 99th most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–April, August and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brimstone Canary in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in May–July, September and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brimstone Canary sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 7
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Brimstone Canary sightings, Cape Town ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Kigali (Rwanda, about 20%), Lusaka (Zambia, about 10%) and Harare (Zimbabwe, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brimstone Canary is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (149 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
